Low earners struggling to feed families

People on low incomes in NSW and the ACT are struggling to regularly provide food for their families, a new study shows.

Anglicare and the Samaritans Foundation on Wednesday released the research, based on surveys of those who use emergency relief services provided by the groups.

They found 98 per cent of respondents were "not sure where their next meal was coming from" and 82 per cent were "unable to provide food for their family on a regular basis".

Children's meal sizes were cut by 30 per cent of those surveyed to make food go further and 31 per cent of parents can't afford to regularly feed their kids, the research said.

The survey also revealed seven per cent of children often went without food for a whole day.

Almost 90 per cent of respondents said they were worried about running out of food and 68 per cent said they regularly skipped meals.

Anglicare Sydney chief Grant Millard said this was happening mainly to "low income earners, people with a disability, single parents, people experiencing rental stress and people from an indigenous background."

"People were often making the difficult choice of going without food in order to pay for other more pressing expenses," he said in a statement.

"Some 95 per cent of the people surveyed in NSW and ACT indicated that they had run out of food in the last three months due to unexpected expenses like medical bills, car repairs, large power bills and sudden increases in rent."

Parents were going hungry to feed their children, Mr Millard added, but he said it was "deeply concerning" children were missing out on meals.

Anglicare's winter appeal is being launched with the research on Wednesday.

Organisers are hoping to raise $1.9 million to fund emergency relief programs, which provide food to those in need.